Escrow and Arbitration — The Complete Guide
The short version
When you buy on OmniBazaar, your payment is not handed straight to the seller. It is locked in a safe holding spot first. It stays locked until you confirm you got what you paid for. If there is a problem, independent judges step in and decide what happens to the money.
- You pay. The money locks in escrow.
- The seller ships and marks the item delivered.
- You get 7 days to check the item and approve the payment.
- Approve it, and the seller is paid. Do nothing, and the seller can be paid without your approval.
- If something is wrong, you open a dispute. Three independent judges look at the evidence and decide.
- Not happy with the decision? You can appeal once, to five new judges.
How your payment is protected
The holding spot is called escrow. It is a computer program (a smart contract) that runs on the OmniCoin blockchain. It follows rules that anyone can read. No company and no person can move the money until the rules are met.
You stay in control the whole time. The money is locked to the seller — but it is only released when the conditions in this guide are met.
Who is involved
- You (the buyer) — you pay into escrow and confirm when the item is good.
- The seller — ships the item and marks it delivered; gets paid when you approve, or when your check window ends.
- The judges (arbitrators) — independent, qualified members of the community who decide disputes. More on them below.
- The platform — runs the rules in code and collects a small fee on completed sales.
A normal purchase, step by step
- You buy. Your payment (XOM) moves from your wallet into the escrow contract, locked to the seller.
- The seller ships. The seller marks the item “delivered” in the app.
- You check the item. You have 7 days. This is your inspection window.
- You approve. Tap to release the payment. The seller is paid, minus the 1% marketplace fee.
- Or you do nothing. After your 7-day window ends, the payment can be released to the seller without your approval. The seller does not have to wait on you forever.
If the seller never ships and never marks the item delivered, you can get your money back. After the escrow’s end date passes, you can claim a refund — as long as the seller has not marked it delivered and has had at least 24 hours to respond.
What it costs
| Fee | Who pays | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|---|
| Escrow itself | Nobody | Free | Always — there is no separate escrow charge |
| Marketplace fee | Seller | 1% of the sale | Only when the sale completes (the seller is paid). No fee on refunds. |
| Dispute fee | Whoever opens the dispute | 5% of the disputed amount | When a dispute is opened |
| Appeal | The person appealing | 2.5% of the disputed amount | When an appeal is filed (returned if you win) |
The 1% marketplace fee breaks down as 0.5% referral, 0.25% transaction, and 0.25% listing.
The 5% dispute fee pays for the judges. About 70% goes to the judges and about 30% to the platform.
How long each step takes
| Step | How long |
|---|---|
| Escrow length | Your choice, from 1 hour up to 30 days |
| Delivery check window | 7 days after the seller marks the item delivered |
| Opening a dispute | Any time while the escrow is open (not yet released or refunded) |
| Judges picked | A few seconds after the dispute opens |
| First decision | Up to 7 days |
| Appeal window | 3 days after the first decision |
| Appeal decision | Up to 5 days |
When something goes wrong: disputes
- Open a dispute. Either side can. The opener pays the 5% dispute fee.
- Three judges are picked at random. Neither you nor the seller can be a judge, and no one can predict who is picked.
- Both sides upload evidence. Photos, tracking numbers, and messages. Up to 50 pieces per dispute. The evidence is stored permanently and cannot be changed.
- The judges review and vote. Two of three decide: release the money to the seller, or refund it to you.
- There is a 3-day appeal window. If no one appeals, the decision is final and the money moves automatically.
Appeals
If you believe the judges got it wrong, you can appeal once — within the 3-day window. An appeal costs 2.5% of the disputed amount. Five new judges are picked, none of them from the original three. Three of five decide.
- If the appeal agrees with you, you get your 2.5% back, and the judges who got it wrong are penalized.
- If the appeal upholds the original decision, you lose your 2.5% stake.
What happens when nobody acts
- You never approve and the seller never shipped — you can claim a refund after the escrow ends.
- The seller shipped and you went silent — the seller is paid after your 7-day window.
- The judges never reach a majority in 7 days — the money is refunded to you by default.
- An appeal never resolves in 5 days — the original decision stands, and the appeal stake is forfeited.
- No judges are available at all (very rare) — you can claim a refund 30 days after the escrow’s end date. This is a last-resort safety valve, so money can never be stuck forever.
Who are the judges?
Judges are experienced, trusted members of the OmniBazaar community. To serve, a person must qualify as a validator: a participation score of 50 or higher, KYC Tier 3, and at least 10,000 XOM staked.
Their stake is at risk. If an appeal shows they decided wrongly, part of their stake is taken. This gives judges a strong reason to be fair.
Your money stays in your hands
OmniBazaar never holds your money. The escrow is a smart contract on the blockchain. It releases funds only when the rules in this guide are met — rules written in code that no company can override.
A dispute is the only time a person decides what happens to your money, and even then, three (or five) independent judges decide — never the platform.
Private purchases (pXOM)
If you buy using the private token (pXOM), the amount stays hidden even from the blockchain. The same protection applies, with one difference: because the judges cannot see a hidden amount, a private-coin dispute is settled by the two parties plus one neutral judge voting 2-of-3, rather than a panel of three judges.